2. William Stromberg & Moscow Symphony Orch. – “Universal Signature”
from: Salter – Skinner: Monster Music / Marco-Polo / 1995
[Frank Skinner was a composer & arranger born in Meredosia, Illinois on Dec. 31, 1897. He died in Beverly Hills, California, Oct. 9, 1968. A graduate of the Chicago Musical College (now the Chicago Conservatory of Music), 16-year-old Frank found employment in vaudeville and began playing in local areas with his brother Carl on drums billed as the Skinner Brothers dance band. He began writing and arranging music for dance bands in New York, from 1925 to 1935, arranging 2000 popular songs for Robbins Publishing. After a short period at MGM, working on musical settings for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Skinner was hired by Universal Studios. Over the course of his 30 years there, he composed music for more than 200 films earning five Academy Award nominations (1938–43). His distinctive approach to scoring horror films, such as Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Wolf Man (1941), has been characterized as a ‘passion for chromatic lines … mirrored contours … [and] restrained, yet ominously mythical orchestrations’ (Marcello). He gained new recognition in the 1950s for his lush romantic scores, including those for such Douglas Sirk films as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Written on the Wind (1956). Despite many changes in the film industry, his book Underscore (1950) has survived as an excellent introduction to film music composition. The Wolf Man is a 1941 American drama horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as a werewolf named “The Wolf Man” and features Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Béla Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya in supporting roles. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood’s depictions of the legend of the werewolf. The film is the second Universal Pictures werewolf film, preceded six years earlier by the less commercially successful Werewolf of London (1935). Lon Chaney, Jr. would reprise his classic role as “The Wolf Man” in four sequels, beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943.]

4. Sonic Youth – “Youth Against Facism”
from: Dirty (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered] / Interscope – Geffen / July 21, 1992
[Sonic Youth was based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, and rounded out the core line-up. Sonic Youth emerged from the experimental no wave art and music scene in New York before evolving into a more conventional rock band and becoming the most prominent of the American noise rock groups. Sonic Youth have been praised for having “redefined what rock guitar could do” using a wide variety of unorthodox guitar tunings and preparing guitars with objects like drum sticks and screwdrivers to alter the instruments’ timbre. The band is considered to be a pivotal influence on the alternative and indie rock movements. After gaining a large underground following and critical praise through releases with SST Records in the late 1980s, the band experienced mainstream success throughout the 1990s and 2000s after signing to major label DGC in 1990 and headlining the 1995 Lollapalooza festival. In 2011, Ranaldo announced that the band was “ending for a while” following the separation of married couple Gordon and Moore. Thurston Moore updated and clarified the position in May 2014: “Sonic Youth is on hiatus. The band is a democracy of sorts, and as long as Kim and I are working out our situation, the band can’t really function reasonably.” Gordon refers several times in her 2015 autobiography Girl in a Band to the band having “split up”. Dirty is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on July 21, 1992 by record label DGC. The band recorded and produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at the Magic Shop studios. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the grunge scene of the time, and was described as avant-rock. Some songs on the album mark the first appearance of three guitars in Sonic Youth songs. The album was remastered and released on quadruple vinyl and double CD in 2003. The album spawned four singles. The first single was “100%”; it charted well, but was not the crossover hit the label anticipated. The next was “Youth Against Fascism”, which did not chart well. The last two were “Sugar Kane” and “Drunken Butterfly”, released in 1993. “Sugar Kane” did better commercially than “Youth Against Fascism”. The album sold exceptionally well, reaching No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart (their highest charting album in the UK) and No. 83 in the US. In support of the album, the band embarked on the “Pretty Fucking Dirty” tour of 1992 and 1993, where most of Dirty was played. In late 1992, they toured North America, and in early 1993, they toured New Zealand and Australia.]

5. St. Vincent – “Fear The Future (Piano Version)”
from: MassEducation / Loma Vista – Concord Music / October 12, 2018
[“MassEducation” a brand new acoustic rendition of her previous album Masseduction, Clark’s fifth studio album, was released in October 2017. Pitchfork writes: “Recorded over two days at Manhattan’s Reservoir Studios studios, MassEducation strips its hypersexual, neon-clad predecessor for parts, exposing its songs as tales of longing and nostalgia. Clark seemed to always know that her record contained two lives: “This needs to be something people can really dance to,” she said of a song on her last album, “until they listen to the words and then they’re crying.” Hiding melancholy behind pop production is nothing new, but on an album so saturated with sadness, these pared-down renderings give Clark a chance to indulge in their underlying sentiments.” Anne Erin Clark was born September 28, 1982, in Tulsa Oklahoma. She is known professionally as St. Vincent, a musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. After studying at Berklee College of Music for three years, she began her music career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree. Clark was also a member of Sufjan Stevens’s touring band before forming her own band in 2006. St. Vincent’s work has received consistent praise for its distinct musical style, which blends soft rock, experimental rock, electropop, and jazz influences. Her debut album was Marry Me (2007), followed by Actor (2009), Strange Mercy (2011), St. Vincent (2014), and Masseduction (2017). She released a collaborative album with David Byrne in 2012 titled Love This Giant. Clark also contributed backing vocals for Swans on their 2014 album, To Be Kind. Her fourth solo album, the eponymous St. Vincent, was named album of the year by The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, NME, and Slant Magazine, as well as second best album of the year by Time magazine. The album won her a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, her first Grammy award. She was the first solo female performer in 20 years to win a Grammy in that category.]

3. Ed Wood – “Plan 9 From Outer Space (Trailer)”
from: Halloween Nuggets: Monster Sixties A Go-Go / Rock Beat / 2014
[Plan 9 from Outer Space (originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space) is a 1959 American B & W science fiction horror film. The film was written, produced, directed and edited by Ed Wood, and stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Vampira and posthumously bills Bela Lugosi. Shortly after Lugosi’s death the story and screenplay for Grave Robbers from Outer Space were written and finalized, with Wood planning to use the unconnected, unrelated footage of Lugosi as a means of putting a credit for him on the picture. Wood used the Lugosi footage as a means of attracting actors to the picture, by saying to them that he was making “Bela Lugosi’s last movie.” Though Wood’s actions were driven in part by the desire to give his film a ‘star name’ and attract horror fans, the Lugosi cameo was also meant as a loving tribute and farewell to the actor, who had become fast friends with Wood in the last three years of Lugosi’s life. Wood hired his wife’s chiropractor, Tom Mason, as a stand-in for Lugosi, even though Mason was taller than Lugosi and bore no resemblance to him, making him one of the earliest “fake Shemps”. Narration from Criswell was also employed in an attempt to better link Lugosi’s footage with the rest of Plan 9. Every last scrap of material Wood had of Lugosi was utilized in the theatrical cut of the film, including what are minor sprocket discolorations, film trims that would in a normal film be discarded as unusable. Cuts of the film on VHS during the 80s and 90s, the vast majority unauthorized bootleg dupes, varied drastically not only in quality but also in the amount of Lugosi material retained.]

Michael McQuary as Béla Lugosi on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

10:10 – Interview with Béla Lugosi

We have the grand pleasure of welcoming back to our radio show the star of “Plan 9 From Outer Space” his last film and his 108th film, from his 5 decades as an actor.

Béla Lugosi – Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley!

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (Oct. 20, 1882 – Aug 16, 1956), known as Bela Lugosi, a Hungarian-American actor. He’d been playing small parts in his native Hungary before making his first film in 1917, but left after the failed Hungarian Revolution. In 1927, he appeared as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. He later appeared in the classic 1931 film Dracula by Universal Pictures. He was often paired with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. To his frustration, Lugosi was increasingly restricted to minor parts, kept employed by the studio principally for the sake of his name on the posters. Among his pairings with Karloff, only in The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939) did he perform major roles again. Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to morphine and methadone. This drug dependence was noted by producers, and the offers eventually dwindled down to a few parts in Ed Wood’s low-budget movies, most notably Plan 9 from Outer Space. Lugosi was married five times, and had one son, Bela George Lugosi. Lugosi was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Lugosi was also the subject of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”, the first single by the English band Bauhaus. Released in August 1979, it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record.

Andy Warhol’s 1963 silkscreen The Kiss depicts Lugosi from Dracula about to bite into the neck of co-star Helen Chandler, who played Mina Harker. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie’s in May 2000.

10:12 – Haunted Recordings

7. The Velvet Underground– “Black Angel’s Death Song (Album Version-Stereo)”
from: The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) / Universal Records / 2012 [Orig. March 12, 1967]
[The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by American rock band the Velvet Underground and vocal collaborator Nico, released in March 1967 by Verve Records. Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour, The Velvet Underground & Nico would gain attention for its experimental performance sensibilities, as well as the focus on controversial subject matter expressed in many of its songs including drug abuse, prostitution, sadism and masochism and sexual deviancy. In 1982, musician Brian Eno famously stated that while The Velvet Underground & Nico initially only sold 30,000 copies, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” Though it was a commercial failure upon release and was almost completely ignored by critics at the time, the record has since become one of the most influential and critically acclaimed rock albums in history, appearing at number thirteen on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as well as being added to the 2006 National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. “I’ll Be Your Mirror” is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with “All Tomorrow’s Parties” in 1966. Lou Reed wrote the song for Nico, who provides lead vocals. Inspiration for the song apparently came about after Nico approached Reed after a show in 1965 saying, “Oh Lou, I’ll be your mirror.” The song was a favorite of Reed’s and The Velvet Underground & Nico engineer, Norman Dolph.]

8. Laurie Anderson – “Three Ghosts”
from: Heart of a Dog / Nonesuch / October 23, 2015
[The complete soundtrack recording of Laurie Anderson’s film, Heart of a Dog. Anderson was commissioned by the European TV network Arte to create a feature film — her first in 30 years. Her response was a personal essay entitled Heart of a Dog, a work encompassing joy and heartbreak and remembering and forgetting, at the heart of which is a lament for her late beloved piano-playing and finger-painting dog Lolabelle. Scenes range from realistic footage from the animal’s life to imagined scenes of Lolabelle’s passage through the bardo. It also includes other reflections on life and death including Anderson’s experiences in life in downtown New York after 9/11. The Nonesuch album is the full audio recording of the film, including all music and spoken text. Heart of a Dog has been shown at the Telluride, Venice, and Toronto Film Festivals to critical praise, with the New York Times calling it a “philosophically astute, emotionally charged meditation on death, love, art and dogs.” The movie was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 8, 2015, before opening theatrically at New York’s Film Forum October 21, 2015. It was also shown on HBO. ]

9. Nina Simone -“Save Me”
from: Silk and Soul / RCA / 1967
[Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933. She died on April 21, 2003. Nina Simone was a singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of the few supporters in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in NYC. Simone recorded more than 40 albums.”]

Michael McQuary as Béla Lugosi on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

10:24 – More Interview with Béla Lugosi.

We have the pleasure of welcoming back to our radio show the star of over 100 films, from his 5 decades as an actor. Bela Lugosi (1882–1956), best known for the original screen portrayal of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1931.

Béla Lugosi Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley!

Béla Lugosi’s last film, “Plan 9 From Outer Space” featured Maila Nurmi (Dec. 11, 1922 – Jan. 10, 2008) a Finnish-American actress born in Petsamo, Finland, who created the campy character Vampira. She portrayed Vampira as TV’s first horror host. She is also billed as Vampira in the 1959 movie The Beat Generation where she plays a beatnik poet.

Bela Lugosi also starred in, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The picture is the first of several films where the comedy duo meets classic characters from Universal’s horror film stable. In this film, they encounter Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), Frankenstein’s monster (Glenn Strange), and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.), while subsequent films pair the duo with the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Invisible Man. On a TV special in the early 1950s, the two did a sketch where they interacted with the latest original Universal Studios monster being promoted at the time, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). The film is considered the swan song for the “Big Three” Universal horror monsters – Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster, none of whom had appeared in a Universal film since 1945’s House of Dracula.

Bela Lugosi (1882–1956), best known for the original screen portrayal of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1931, was in a large number of movies during the course of his career.

In Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, Lugosi is portrayed by Martin Landau, who received the 1994 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the performance. According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, the film’s portrayal of Lugosi is inaccurate: In real life, he never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. And contrary to this film, Bela did not struggle performing on The Red Skelton Show.

Lugosi was married five times, and had one son, Bela George Lugosi.
The Ellis Island Immigration Museum in NYC features a live 30-minute play that focuses on Lugosi’s illegal entry into the USA and then his arrival at Ellis Island to enter legally.
Béla Lugosi Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley!

11. Kenneth Alwyn — “The Bride of Frankenstein (Main Title)”
from: The Bride of Frankenstein (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) / Silva America / 1993
[The Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Alwyn. The Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 horror film, sequel to Universal Pictures’ 1931 hit Frankenstein directed by James Whale with Boris Karloff as The Monster, Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of his mate and Mary Shelley, Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein, and Ernest Thesiger as Doctor Septimus Pretorius. The film is rooted in a subplot of the original Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein (1818). In the film, a chastened Henry Frankenstein abandons his plans to create life, only to be tempted and finally coerced by the Monster, encouraged by Henry’s old mentor Dr. Pretorius, into constructing a mate for him. Bride of Frankenstein was released to critical and popular acclaim, although it encountered difficulties with some state and national censorship boards. Since its release the film’s reputation has grown, and it has been hailed as Whale’s masterpiece. Director James Whale met Franz Waxman at a party and asked him to score the picture. “Nothing will be resolved in this picture except the end destruction scene. Would you write an unresolved score for it?” asked Whale. Waxman created three distinctive themes: one for the Monster; one for the Bride; and one for Pretorius. The score closes, at Whale’s suggestion, with a powerful dissonant chord, intended to convey the idea that the on-screen explosion was so powerful that the theater where the film was being screened was affected by it. Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted 22 musicians to record the score in a single nine-hour session.]

12. Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers — “Monster Mash”
from: The Original Monster Mash / Decca / August 1, 1962
[“Monster Mash” is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton’s Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The “Monster Mash” single was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20–27 of that year, just before Halloween. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. Pickett was an aspiring actor who sang with a band called the Cordials at night while going to auditions during the day. One night, while performing with his band, Pickett did a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff while performing the Diamonds’ “Little Darlin'”. The audience loved it, and fellow band member Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation. Pickett and Capizzi composed “Monster Mash” and recorded it with Gary S. Paxton, pianist Leon Russell, Johnny MacRae, Rickie Page, and Terry Berg, credited as “The Crypt-Kickers”. (Mel Taylor, drummer for the Ventures, is sometimes credited with playing on the record as well, while Russell, who arrived late for the session, appears on the single’s B-side, “Monster Mash Party”.) The song was partially inspired by Paxton’s earlier novelty hit “Alley Oop”, as well as by the Mashed Potato dance craze of the era. A variation on the Mashed Potato was danced to “Monster Mash”, in which the footwork was the same but Frankenstein-style monster gestures were made with the arms and hands. The song is narrated by a mad scientist whose monster, late one evening, rises from his slab to perform a new dance. The dance becomes “the hit of the land” when the scientist throws a party for other monsters. The producers came up with several low-budget but effective sound effects for the recording. For example, the sound of a coffin opening was imitated by a rusty nail being pulled out of a board. The sound of a cauldron bubbling was actually water being bubbled through a straw, and the chains rattling were simply chains being dropped on a tile floor. In addition to narrating the song in the Karloff voice, Pickett also impersonated fellow horror film actor Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula with the line, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?” The song was re-released several times and appeared in the U.S. Billboard charts on two occasions after the original release: August 1970 and May 1973. The BBC had banned the record from airplay in 1962 on the grounds that the song was “too morbid”. It was re-released in the United Kingdom in 1973, where it peaked at #3 in early October. In the U.S. the record re-entered the Hot 100 on May 5, 1973, peaking at #10 on August 11. On the September 15, 1973 edition of American Top 40, Casey Kasem mistakenly said that the record had accumulated 40 weeks on the Hot 100, which then would have been the all-time record, only for a listener to inform Kasem later that the record’s three weeks on the Hot 100 in 1970 had been included in the 1973 run, thus reducing the total to 37 weeks. The record has not charted on the Hot 100 since then. To celebrate the 1973 release, Bobby and the Crypt-Kickers toured Dallas and St. Louis around the 1973 Halloween holiday. On this tour, the Crypt-Kickers were composed of Brian Ray (now guitarist with Paul McCartney), drummer Brian Englund, keyboardist Don Chambers, singer Jean Ray, and others. “Monster Mash” re-entered the British charts again on November 2, 2008 at #60. “Monsters’ Holiday”, a Christmas-themed follow up, was recorded by Pickett and released in December 1962, peaking at #30 on the Billboard chart. The tune was penned by the renowned novelty song composer Paul Harrison. In 1985, with American culture experiencing a growing awareness of rap music, Pickett released “Monster Rap”, which describes the mad scientist’s frustration at being unable to teach the dancing monster from “Monster Mash” how to talk. The problem is solved when he teaches the monster to rap. A movie musical based on the song starring Pickett was released in 1995. During the 2004 presidential election, Pickett turned the song into a campaign video and retitled it “Monster Slash,” with lyrics by environmental campaigner Peter Altman, which critiqued President George W. Bush’s environmental policies. The “Transylvania Twist,” mentioned in the lyrics of “Monster Mash,” was written into a full song for the film Spookley the Square Pumpkin (Pickett narrated) and performed by The Honeydoos, a Pointer Sisters-like girl group of singing melons. The backing singers for the record were The Blossoms, led by Darlene Love.]

Michael McQuary as Boris Karloff on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

10:36 – Interview with Boris Karloff

Joining us now, in our 90.1 FM Radio studios is a giant star of stage & screen, an english actor who had already acted in eighty films before being found by director James Whale and cast in his 81st role as Frankenstein’s monster in the classic 1931 film Frankenstein. The role propelled him to stardom. Boris Karloff went on star in Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, and Son of Frankenstein in 1939. He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy in 1932.

Boris Karloff Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on November 23, 1887, at 36 Forest Hill Road, Camberwell, Surrey (now London), England, but Pratt stated that he was born in nearby Dulwich. His parents were Edward John Pratt, Jr. and Eliza Sarah Millard. His brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, was a British diplomat. His mother’s maternal aunt was Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I. Pratt was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry.

Pratt spent his childhood years in Enfield, in the County of Middlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother’s death was brought up by his elder siblings. He received his early education at Enfield Grammar School, and later at the private schools of Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors’ School. After this, he attended King’s College London where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government’s Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer and did various odd itinerant jobs until happening upon acting.

Karloff acted in eighty movies before being found by James Whale and cast in his eighty-first movie, Frankenstein. Karloff’s role as Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein propelled him to stardom. The bulky costume with four-inch platform boots made it an arduous role but the costume and extensive makeup produced the classic image.
The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds each. Universal Studios was quick to acquire ownership of the copyright to the makeup format for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had designed. Karloff was soon cast as Imhotep who is revived in The Mummy, a mute butler in The Old Dark House (with Charles Laughton) and the starring role in The Mask of Fu Manchu, which were all released within a few months of each other in late 1932. These films confirmed Karloff’s stardom. 5′ 11″, brown-eyed Karloff still played roles in other genres besides horror, such as a religious World War I soldier in the John Ford epic The Lost Patrol (1934).

Horror, however, had now become Karloff’s primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in Universal’s horror films, including several with Bela Lugosi, his main rival as heir to Lon Chaney’s status as the leading horror film star. While the long-standing, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors’ most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat (1934) and continuing with Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935) and The Invisible Ray (1936). Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein’s monster in two further films, Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), the latter also featuring Lugosi, with Basil Rathbone replacing Colin Clive as the scientist playing god. Rathbone appeared with Karloff again in Tower of London (1939) as the murderous henchman of King Richard III. Karloff revisited the Frankenstein mythos in several later films as well, taking the starring role of the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (1944), in which the monster was played by Glenn Strange. He reprised the role of the “mad scientist” in 1958’s Frankenstein 1970 as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original creator. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his own face (i.e., Karloff’s) to the monster.

10:41 – Haunted Recordings

13. Jason Beers – “Release the Mice!”
from: Ghoulish Songs for Cretins / Jason Beers / August 20, 2018
[Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jason Beers is a founding member of The Brannock Device, Dead Voices, and WYCO Lowriders with Johnny Hamil. Jason is known for his bass playing, and his work with Clawhammer banjo, organ/piano/keyboards, trumpet, musical saw, spoons, harmonica, and guitar. Jason has also released multiple recordings with the bands he is associated with through the years. As a solo artist, this year alone, Jason has released 10 full length albums, all available, with 9 previously released albums on his BandCamp page: http://www.jasonbeers.bandcamp.com]

14. Siouxsie & The Banshees – ” Halloween”
from: Juju / Polydor / June 6, 1981
[4th studio album from British post-punk band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Initially associated with the English punk rock scene, the band rapidly evolved to create “a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation”. The Times cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as “one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era.” With the release of Juju the group became an important influence on the emerging gothic rock scene. They disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie continuing to record music as The Creatures, a 2nd band they’d formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career.]

Michael McQuary as Boris Karloff on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

10:48 – More with Boris Karloff

In non-horror roles, he is best-known for narrating and as the voice of Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! from 1966. For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Boris Karloff Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The 1940s and 1950s – An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway (the play’s producers allowed the film to be made under the condition that it not be released until the play closed). He reprised the role on television in the anthology series The Best of Broadway (1955), and with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve his chronic arthritic condition.

His connection with Bela Lugosi continued with Black Friday (1940), You’ll Find Out (also 1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945), the first of three films with RKO produced by Val Lewton. Isle of the Dead (also 1945) and Bedlam (1946) completed the trio.

He married 5 times and had 1 daughter Sara Karloff, by his 4th wife. One marriage was in 1946 right after his divorce. At the time of his daughter’s birth, he was filming Son of Frankenstein and reportedly rushed from the film set to the hospital while still in makeup.

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television. Karloff was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein’s Monster and the Mummy in its series “Classic Monster Movie Stamps” issued in September 1997. In 1998, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled in his hometown in London. The British film magazine Empire in 2016 ranked Karloff’s portrayal as Frankenstein’s monster the sixth-greatest horror movie character of all time.

Boris Karloff Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

10:53 – Haunted Recordings

15. Thom Yorke – “Voiceless Terror”
from: Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) / XL Recordings / October 26, 2018
[Suspiria is a 2018 supernatural horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by David Kajganich, based on the 1977 film directed by Dario Argento. Radiohead singer Thom Yorke composed the score, his first feature film soundtrack. It features the London Contemporary Orchestra and Choir and Yorke’s son Noah on drums. He initially refused the offer, but accepted after months of requests from Guadagnino. Much of the score was completed prior to the film shoot, which afforded Guadagnino the opportunity to play the musical score on set during filming. Yorke cited inspiration from the 1982 Blade Runner soundtrack, musique concrète artists such as Pierre Henry, modern electronic artists such as James Holden, and music from the film’s 1977 Berlin setting, such as krautrock. He said: “There’s a way of repeating in music that can hypnotise. I kept thinking to myself that it’s a form of making spells. So when I was working in my studio I was making spells. I know it sounds really stupid, but that’s how I was thinking about it.” Suspiria stars Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton in a triple role, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven, Elena Fokina, Sylvie Testud, Renée Soutendijk, Christine LeBoutte, Fabrizia Sacchi, Małgosia Bela, Jessica Harper, and Chloë Grace Moretz. Harper, the lead in the original film, appears in a different role. Set in 1977 Berlin, the plot follows a young American dancer who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy controlled by a coven of witches. Unlike in Argento’s original film which utilized exaggerated color, Guadagnino conceived Suspiria as visually “winter-ish” and bleak, absent of any primary colors. The film also incorporates stylized dance sequences choreographed by Damien Jalet, which factor significantly in its representation of witchcraft. Concurrent to its plot surrounding the coven is a secondary plot involving a psychotherapist who lost his wife under the Nazi regime. Principal photography for Suspiria took place in late 2016 and early 2017 in Varese and Berlin. The score was composed by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who completed much of the arrangements prior to and during filming. Suspiria premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2018. In the United States, it was released in a limited release by Amazon Studios in Los Angeles and New York on October 26, 2018, followed by Halloween screenings in select cities before opening wide on November 2, 2018. It will be released in the United Kingdom by Mubi on November 16, 2018.]

16. Jametatone – “Too Late”
from: Empty Bliss / J. Ashley Miller / March 21, 2017
[3-song rare EP from Jametatone, the solo project of J. Ashley Miller who also records with his band as Metatone. J. Ashley Miller is the The 2016 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award Fellow. He is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. His genre-bending trans-modern work has been performed everywhere from YJ’s to the Kauffman Performing Arts Center, to the MoMa PS1 in NYC. Ashley utilizes a diverse range of technologies, techniques, and collaborators to access obscure facets of the human emotional landscape. Jametatone opened all four shows at The Outburst KC, where Calvin Arsenia performed his 2017 Release Catastrophe “Unplugged” with guest musicians Beau Bledsoe, Fritz Hutchinson, Mark Southerland, and artist & vocalist Seth M. Jones. On December 21, 2017 Jametatone released anew 10-song album “Frog In The Pot”, the solo project of J. Ashley Miller who also records with his band as Metatone You can view more of Ashley’s work at http://www.jametatone.com.]

17. The Misfits – “Halloween”
from: Halloween – Single / Plan 9 Records / October 31, 1981
[Also available on Just Can’t Get Enough: New Wave Halloween. “Halloween” is the 5th single by the horror punk band the Misfits. It was released on singer Glenn Danzig’s label Plan 9 Records. 5,000 copies of the single were pressed on black 7″ vinyl, some of which included a lyrics sheet. This was the first Misfits release to use their Famous Monsters of Filmland-inspired logo, as well as the first to refer to the band as simply “Misfits”. American punk rock band recognized as the progenitors of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk and other musical influences with horror film themes. Founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey by singer & songwriter Glenn Danzig, the group had a fluctuating lineup during its first six years, with Danzig and bassist Jerry Only as the only consistent members. During this time they released several EPs and singles, and with Only’s brother Doyle as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us (1982) and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983), both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement. Misfits disbanded in 1983 and Danzig went on to form Samhain and then the eponymous Danzig. Several albums of reissued and previously unreleased material were issued after the group’s dissolution, and their music became influential to punk rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock music.]

11:01 – Station ID

11:00 – Haunted Recordings

18. Bette Davis – “Kaleidoscope, Broadcast on BBC Radio (Sept. 11, 1974)”
from: Bette Davis In Her Own Words / AudioGO Ltd / September 26, 2011
[In a selection of interviews ranging from 1958 to 1987, Bette Davis talks about visiting England; her career as a star; the film studio’s attempts to change her name and image, and the Hollywood film system. Interviews include: Profile, BBC TV (first broadcast 12 September 1958); Bette Davis at the NFT, BBC TV (first broadcast 17 December 1972); Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio (first broadcast 11 September 1974); Parkinson, BBC TV (18 October 1975); Nine Five, BBC TV (first broadcast 31 October 1975); Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio (first broadcast 12 September 1979); Arena, BBC TV (first broadcast 2 November 1983). Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary.]

19. Bette Davis – “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”
from: The Andy Williams Show / Unreleased / December 20, 1962
[Shortly after filming What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? On December 20, 1962, Bette Davis was a guest on The Andy Williams Show to promote the film and upcoming record. When Williams asked Davis what her new record sounded like, she used her fabulous sense of humor to compare it to Chubby Checker. Things really got good when Williams announced that Davis would be performing a little tune for the audience. Davis brought the awesome in a sparkly blue dress, with some sassy dance moves and a set of raspy vocal pipes that were clearly touched by years of constant chain-smoking. The best part is that Davis was happily aware of the camp and the silliness of her performance but she let it rip, regardless. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? / was released on 7″ Vinyl, in 1962 credited to Bette Davis and Debbie Burton (who on the record does most of the singing) The B-side is: “I’ve Written A Letter To Daddy” on MGM Records.]

Michael McQuary as Bette Davis on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

11:03 – Interview with Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth “Bette” Davis was born April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts (She died on October 6, 1989). She was an American actress of film, television, and theater. With a career spanning 60 years, she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Bette Davis Thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

“Bette” Davis was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.

After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in the summer of 1930. However, her early films for Universal Studios (and as a loanout to other studios) were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932, and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract. Although she lost the well-publicized legal case against the studio, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema’s most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative and confrontational. She clashed with studio executives and film directors, as well as many of her co-stars. Her forthright manner, idiosyncratic speech, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona, which has often been imitated.

Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was once widowed and three times divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. Her final years were marred by a long period of ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer, with more than 100 film, television, and theater roles to her credit during her six-decade-long career. In 1999, Davis was placed second behind Katharine Hepburn on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

11:08 – Haunted Recordings

20. Madonna – “Frozen”
from: Ray Of Light / Maverick – Warner Bros. / February 22, 1998
[7th studio album by Madonna. After giving birth to her first child, Madonna started working on the album with producers Babyface & Patrick Leonard. Following failed sessions, Madonna pursued a new musical direction with English producer William Orbit. The recording process was the longest of Madonna’s career and experienced problems with Orbit’s hardware arrangement, which would break down, and recording would be delayed until they could be repaired. A departure, Ray of Light is an electronica and dance album which incorporates multiple genres, including ambient, trip hop, and Middle Eastern music. Vocally, the album saw Madonna sing with greater breadth and a fuller tone. Mystical themes are also strongly present in both the music & lyrics, as a result of Madonna embracing Kabbalah, her study of Hinduism & Buddhism, as well as her daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga. The album received universal acclaim, with reviews commending the singer’s new musical direction. Called her “most adventurous” record, Ray of Light has been noted for its introspective, spiritual nature, with Madonna’s vocals also being praised. Ray of Light won four Grammy Awards from a total of six nominations. The album peaked at #1 in several countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, and the UK. The album debuted at #2 on the US Billboard 200, with the biggest first-week sales by a female artist at the time, and has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. Five singles were released from the album, including the international hits “Frozen” and “Ray of Light”. The album’s promotion was later supported by the Drowned World Tour in 2001. Academics have noted the album’s influence on popular music, and how it introduced electronica into mainstream pop culture. They also noted Madonna’s musical re-invention which helped her remain contemporary among the teen-marketed artists of the period. Ray of Light is frequently cited by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.]

21. Cesar Davila-Irizarry & Charlie Clouser – “American Horror Story Theme”
from: American Horror Story Theme – Single / 20th Century Fox TV Records / Oct 17, 2012
[The song was composed in 1998 by César Dávila-Irizarry. Today he’s a television sound editor in Los Angeles, but back then he was just a sophomore at the University of Puerto Rico, living at his mother’s house, futzing around with digital remixes on Windows ’95. “I started playing around with the software that other people were using then, which was Cool Edit 96,” he recalls. “I was just getting some demons out.” He grew attached to a particular sparse, haunting melody and added sounds of clattering metal hangers, dripping water and white noise—all distorted beyond recognition. To some ears, the hangers might sound like an electric guitar. He gave the song to his friend Gabriel Diaz and didn’t think much about it until Diaz—now an editor at Prologue Pictures—dusted off the track a decade later and slotted it in as a temp track for the American Horror Story title sequence. (A temp track is placeholder music that editors use while working on rough cuts.) Everyone at FX and Prologue grew so accustomed to Dávila-Irizarry’s song, they decided to keep it—even after hiring composer Charlie Clouser (formerly of Nine Inch Nails) to write entirely new music. Clouser submitted four of his own demos, but each time was told to make the music sound more like the temp track.

Michael McQuary as Bette Davis on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

11:15 – More with Bette Davis

We’re with legendary star of film Bette Davis was born April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts (She died on October 6, 1989). She was, regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Bette Davis – Thanks for being with on Wednesday MidDay Medley

In 1930, 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood to screen test for Universal Studios. Davis and her mother traveled by train to Hollywood. She later recounted her surprise that nobody from the studio was there to meet her. In fact, a studio employee had waited for her, but left because he saw nobody who “looked like an actress”. She failed her first screen test, but was used in several screen tests for other actors. In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, she related the experience with the observation, “I was the most Yankee-est, most modest virgin who ever walked the earth. They laid me on a couch, and I tested fifteen men … They all had to lie on top of me and give me a passionate kiss. Oh, I thought I would die. Just thought I would die.” A second test was arranged for Davis, for the 1931 film A House Divided. Hastily dressed in an ill-fitting costume with a low neckline, she was rebuffed by the film director William Wyler, who loudly commented to the assembled crew, “What do you think of these dames who show their chests and think they can get jobs?”. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios, considered terminating Davis’ employment, but cinematographer Karl Freund told him she had “lovely eyes” and would be suitable for Bad Sister (1931), in which she subsequently made her film debut. Her nervousness was compounded when she overheard the chief of production, Carl Laemmle, Jr., comment to another executive that she had “about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville”, one of the film’s co-stars. The film was not a success, and her next role in Seed (1931) was too brief to attract attention.

Universal Studios renewed her contract for three months, and she appeared in a small role in Waterloo Bridge (1931), before being lent to Columbia Pictures for The Menace, and to Capital Films for Hell’s House (all 1932). After one year, and six unsuccessful films, Laemmle elected not to renew her contract. Davis was preparing to return to New York when actor George Arliss chose Davis for the lead female role in the Warner Bros. picture The Man Who Played God (1932), and for the rest of her life, Davis credited him with helping her achieve her “break” in Hollywood. The Saturday Evening Post wrote, “She is not only beautiful, but she bubbles with charm”, and compared her to Constance Bennett and Olive Borden.

Warner Bros. signed her to a 5-year contract, and she remained with the studio for the next 18 years. Davis married Harmon Oscar Nelson on August 18, 1932, in Yuma, Arizona. Their marriage was scrutinized by the press; his $100 a week earnings compared unfavorably with Davis’ reported $1,000 a week income. Davis addressed the issue in an interview, pointing out that many Hollywood wives earned more than their husbands, but the situation proved difficult for Nelson, who refused to allow Davis to purchase a house until he could afford to pay for it himself. Davis had several abortions during the marriage. After more than 20 film roles, the role of the vicious and slatternly Mildred Rogers in the RKO Radio production of Of Human Bondage (1934), a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel, earned Davis her first major critical acclaim. Many actresses feared playing unsympathetic characters, and several had refused the role, but Davis viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills. Her co-star, Leslie Howard, was initially dismissive of her, but as filming progressed, his attitude changed, and he subsequently spoke highly of her abilities. The director John Cromwell allowed her relative freedom: “I let Bette have her head. I trusted her instincts.” She insisted that she be portrayed realistically in her death scene, and said: “The last stages of consumption, poverty, and neglect are not pretty, and I intended to be convincing-looking.” The film was a success, and Davis’ characterization won praise from critics, with Life writing that she gave “probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress”. Davis anticipated that her reception would encourage Warner Bros. to cast her in more important roles, and was disappointed when Jack L. Warner refused to lend her to Columbia Studios to appear in It Happened One Night, and instead cast her in the melodrama Housewife. When Davis was not nominated for an Academy Award for Of Human Bondage, The Hollywood Citizen News questioned the omission, and Norma Shearer, herself a nominee, joined a campaign to have Davis nominated. This prompted an announcement from the Academy president, Howard Estabrook, who said that under the circumstances, “any voter … may write on the ballot his or her personal choice for the winners”, thus allowing, for the only time in the Academy’s history, the consideration of a candidate not officially nominated for an award. The uproar led, however, to a change in academy voting procedures the following year, wherein nominations were determined by votes from all eligible members of a particular branch, rather than by a smaller committee, with results independently tabulated by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse. Davis appeared in Dangerous (1935) as a troubled actress, and received very good reviews.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Davis spent the early months of 1942 selling war bonds. After Jack Warner criticized her tendency to cajole crowds into buying, she reminded him that her audiences responded most strongly to her “bitch” performances. She sold $2 million worth of bonds in two days, as well as a picture of herself in Jezebel for $250,000. She also performed for black regiments as the only white member of an acting troupe formed by Hattie McDaniel, which included Lena Horne and Ethel Waters.

In 1960, Davis, a registered Democrat, appeared at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, where she met future President John F. Kennedy, whom she greatly admired. Outside of acting and politics, Davis was an active and practicing Episcopalian.

1961-1970: Renewed success – Davis received her final Academy Award nomination for her role as demented Baby Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) Davis and Joan Crawford played two aging sisters, former actresses forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion. The director, Robert Aldrich, explained that Davis and Crawford were each aware of how important the film was to their respective careers, and commented: “It’s proper to say that they really detested each other, but they behaved absolutely perfectly.” After filming was completed, their public comments against each other allowed the tension to develop into a life-long feud. When Davis was nominated for an Academy Award, Crawford contacted the other Best Actress nominees (who were unable to attend the ceremonies) and offered to accept the award on their behalf, should they win. When Anne Bancroft was announced as winner, Crawford accepted the award on Bancroft’s behalf.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) was Robert Aldrich’s follow-up to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Aldrich planned to reunite Davis and Crawford, but Crawford withdrew allegedly due to illness soon after filming began. She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland. The film was a considerable success, and brought renewed attention to its veteran cast, which also included Joseph Cotten, Mary Astor, Agnes Moorehead, and Cecil Kellaway.

Davis’ name became well known to a younger audience when Kim Carnes’ song “Bette Davis Eyes” (written by Jackie DeShannon) became a worldwide hit and the best-selling record of 1981 in the U.S., where it stayed at #1 on the music charts for more than two months. Davis’ grandson was impressed that she was the subject of a hit song and Davis considered it a compliment, writing to both Carnes and the songwriters, and accepting the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes, and hanging them on her wall.

Bette Davis – Thanks for being with on Wednesday MidDay Medley

11:20 – Haunted Recordings

22. Screaming Jay Hawkins – “I Put a Spell on You”
from: Single – (Jeremy Sole’s Zombie Stomp Remix) / self released / 2011
[Jeremy Sole is a critically acclaimed DJ, he is also a radio show host at KCRW in Santa Monica, California (www.kcrw.com) and is Co-Founder and resident deejay of “AFRO FUNKÉ.” Sole has drawn a loyal crowd every week for the past 7 years. This is his arena for Afrobeat, Latin, Brazilian and other authentic and remixed world rhythms. Hundreds of international guests have joined him, from deejays Rich Medina and Cut Chemist to impromptu jam sessions with Zap Mama and Stevie Wonder. “Jeremy is a great DJ, presenter, producer and knower-of-music …an extremely cool dude. I cannot stop listening to his remix of ‘I Put A Spell On You’ …it’s irresistible.” – Henry Rollins]

23. Snoop Dogg–”Murder Was the Case (Death After Visualizing Eternity)[feat. Dat Nigga Daz]”
from: Doggystyle / Death Row Records / November 23, 1993
[Debut studio album by American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. IThe album was recorded and produced following Snoop’s appearances on Dr. Dre’s debut solo album The Chronic (1992), to which Snoop contributed significantly. The West Coast style in hip-hop that he developed from Dre’s first album continued on Doggystyle. Critics have praised Snoop Doggy Dogg for the lyrical “realism” that he delivers on the album and for his distinctive vocal flow. Despite some mixed criticism of the album initially upon its release, Doggystyle earned recognition from many music critics as one of the most significant albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the most important hip-hop albums ever released. Much like The Chronic, the distinctive sounds of Doggystyle helped introduce the hip-hop subgenre of g-funk to a mainstream audience, bringing forward West Coast hip hop as a dominant force in the early-1990s. Doggystyle debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 806,858 copies in its first week alone in the United States, which was the record for a debuting artist and the fastest-selling hip-hop album ever. Doggystyle was included on The Source magazine’s list of the 100 Best Rap Albums; as well as Rolling Stone magazine’s list of Essential Recordings of the ’90s.[3] About.com placed the album in No. 17 of the greatest hip hop/rap albums of all time.The album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By November 2015, the album had sold 7 million copies in the United States, and over 11 million copies worldwide.]

24. AKADUNGEONMASTER –”SOF TRAP INTERLUDE”
from: SWINE FLU INSTRUMETALS VERSION ONE / Mother Russia Industries / July 13, 2013
[The experimental project of Tim J. Harte. musician, composer, co-founder of the Kansas City record label, Mother Russia Industries, Tim J.Harte makes music using Sega Genesis, Dungeons and Dragons, math and several hard working laptop computers. Tim J. Harte is currently studiing composition at UMKC’s Conservatory of Music. He just recently composed music and conducted a 7 piece ensemble for Trench Warfare, a theatrical performance presented last Saturday evening, January 13, at the National World War I Museum and Memorial J.C. Nichols Auditorium. Tim also composed original music for Ryan Wilks art exhibit, Here Where You Wish, is an immersive public installation at the Kansas City Public Library.]

25. Kraftwerk – “Intermission (2009 Remaster)”
from: Radio-Activity (2009 Remaster) / Parlophone Records / October 6, 2009
[Origianally released in October 1975. The fifth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It is a concept album organized around the theme of radio communication. To cater to the band’s international audience, all releases of the album were bilingual with lyrics in both English and German, the only localised difference being the album and track titles. being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio. More word plays are evident in the track listing: “Radio Stars”, which as a title could refer to pop stars, but upon listening is revealed to be about quasars and pulsars. This was the first Kraftwerk album to be entirely self-produced by Ralf Hütter and Schneider in their Kling Klang studio, and the first one to be performed by the “classic” Hütter, Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür line-up. All the music was written by Hütter and Schneider, with Emil Schult collaborating on lyrics. Schult also designed the artwork – a modified illustration of a late-1930s ‘Deutscher Kleinempfänger’ radio. It was the first Kraftwerk album to feature use of the distinctive Vako Orchestron keyboard (choir, string and organ sounds), which the group had purchased on their recent US Autobahn tour and the Moog Micromoog which was used extensively on this album. Notably, it provided the harsh sounds on the track “Antenna”. The band’s custom-built electronic percussion also featured heavily in the sound, and extensive use was made of the vocoder. The usual synthesizers were present (including Minimoog and ARP Odyssey), and Hütter’s Farfisa electronic piano made a return on “Transistor”. For the first time the group did not use flute, violin or guitars. By 1975, Hütter and Schneider’s previous publishing deals with Capriccio Music and Star Musik Studio of Hamburg had expired. The compositions on Radio-Activity were published by their own newly set up Kling Klang Verlag music publishing company, giving them greater financial control over the use of songwriting output. Also, the album was the first to bear the fruit of Kling Klang as an established vanity label under the group’s new licensing deal with EMI. The album reached #59 in Canada, in February 1976. The title track “Radioactivity” was released as a single, and became a hit in France after it was used as the theme to a popular music show. The song was later re-recorded by Kraftwerk for their 1991 album The Mix. It was further remixed, for subsequent single release, by William Orbit and François Kevorkian.]

Michael McQuary as Bette Davis on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

Michael McQuary as Boris Karloff on the October 31, 2018 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI. (Photo by Mark Manning)

“Michael McQuary is more than a pretty face, and he’s got a thousand, anyway. His is a talent today’s entertainment world needs more of. From Fu Manchu to Phantoms to Dietrich, Michael carries them all off to perfection, and I knew the originals. This talented entertainer perfects his transformations while allowing the audience a glimpse of the artist beneath the mask.” – Rex Reed

Michael McQuary – Thanks for being with on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Stage & screen actor, Michael McQuary was born and raised in Portland, Oregon in the 1960s. Michael tells us that he learned about the world “sideways,” and that as a child, “the movies took care of him.”

Michael remembers, at the age of 6, pointing to the television, spellbound by Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, he said to his mother, “Look how he holds his cape!” From then on Michael’s childhood was focused on his own creative world.

Michael is a master impressionist, with a unique take on the legendary “Monsters of Filmland” and the brightest stars of Hollywood’s golden age. Michael is also a character actor and can be seen in multiple films and shorts.

Michael was the creator of the award winning one-man shows in New York City including: Matinee Idol, Man of 1001 Faces, Crystal Allan Strikes Back, Back Then They Had Faces, My Own Space and most recently, for KC Fringe Festival “I’m Hollywood.”

He is also a visual stylist and original “Party Monster – Club Kid” from downtown NYC.
Along with performing, Michael McQuary works as a visual artist, making a name for himself at celebrated events where he wows spectators with #youressenceinseconds.

Michael also designs very special works that are forged into art and jewelry based on a one-of-a-kind symbols he creates individually for clients through his company: http://www.YourPowerSign.com.

Michael McQuary – Thanks for being with on Wednesday MidDay Medley

11:40 – Apocalypse Meow 11

27. Hot Suede – “Forget About You”
from: Forget About You – Single / Hot Suede / August 16, 2018
[Formed October 4, 2017, Hot Suede is a new original rock and roll band from Kansas City, Missouri showcasing fiery guitar riffs, an equally groovy and thunderous rhythm section, soaring vocals, and unparalleled swagger. Rising from the ashes of juggernaut Cherokee Rock Rifle, guitarists Doug Nelson, Scott Reed, and drummer Brett Southard joined forces with bassist Chad Toney and vocalist Wayne Hutcherson aka Bobby W. Topaz to form an unpretentious rock band with classic undertones and guitar-driven songwriting. On October 12, 2017 Hot Suede released the single “Get What You Came For.” On December 20, 2017 Hot Suede released the single, “Make It Harder.” More info at: http://www.hotsuede.com]

Sondra Freeman is Director of Promotions and Artist Relations for Midwest Music Foundation, a nonprofit created to support music and musicians in Kansas City and the surrounding areas, founded in 2008 by a collective of musicians and music lovers. The Midwest Music Foundation (MMF) unites and empowers the greater Kansas City music community by providing programs and resources to area musicians through outreach, support, education, and health care opportunities. Sondra is instrumental in MMF’s annual events: Apocalypse Meow, MidCoast Takeover and the MidCoast Takeover fundraiser shows, as well as many other collaborative musical events and fundraisers.

Abigail Henderson co-founded Midwest Music Foundation, since her death, five years ago, friends, musicians, collaborators have kept this not-for-profit alive.

Midwest Music Foundation is a part of events all year round: Midcoast Takeover, Middle of The Map Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, and more.

The Midwest Music Foundation and 90.9 The Bridge are proud to present the 11th Annual Apocalypse Meow to benefit Abby’s Fund for Musicians’ Health Care on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3.

It kicks off with a free, all-ages concert at Mills Record Company (4045 Broadway Blvd) on Friday, Nov. 2, with Hot Suede and The Whiffs. Doors open at 7 p.m., and Barry Lee (KKFI 90.1 FM) will emcee.

The main event is held on Saturday, Nov. 3, at recordBar (1520 Grand Blvd), with doors opening at 6 p.m. The Too Much Rock Main Stage will showcase performances by Bacon Shoe, The Almighty Trouble Brothers, Chris Meck and The Second Sons, and Chase The Horseman. Jen Harris, Kelly Hunt and Eems will perform on the acoustic stage. Jonathan Wier (The Jonathan Wier Show, KMBZ-FM 98.1) and Paul Chandler (X105.1KC and 105.9 KISS FM) will emcee. Tickets for Saturday are available for $10 at this link or $15 at the door.

RockDocs, a collaboration of University of Kansas and the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County will be on site Saturday to offer health care and ACA information, screenings, wellness programs, opportunities to discuss health conditions and concerns, and arrange follow ups.

A silent auction and raffles will feature an assortment of items donated by local businesses. This event is supported by the Kansas City Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund. More information and a full list of sponsors can be found here. To view a promotional video about Apocalypse Meow with support from Mayor Sly James, visit this link.

In 2008, Apocalypse Meow was established to raise medical funds for local musician Abigail Henderson, who had been diagnosed with cancer. Compelled to give back to the community, she co-founded MMF to provide musicians with health care assistance. Though she passed away in 2013, Abigail’s mission continues — MMF provides financial resources, educational programs, health clinics and events throughout the year. Abby’s Fund dispenses emergency health care grants to KC-area musicians, having contributed more than $130,000 since its inception.

Next week, on November 7 we play more of New & MidCoastal Releases. Plus we’ll be joined by company members of Spinning Tree Theatre’s production of “The Nance” running through November 18 at Just Off Broadway Theatre, 3051 Central, KCMO. We’ll also talk with Ben Parks and Matthew Dunehoo about the debut recording of their band SLIGHTS and their album release show, November 30, at recordBar.

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org